Clippers owner Donald Sterling court case delayed until July 21

July 11, 2014

By David Leon Moore

USA TODAY Sports

LOS ANGELES — The Sterling vs. Sterling probate drama will take a hiatus for a while after Shelly Sterling testified Thursday that Barbara Walters canceled an interview with Donald Sterling because of his erratic behavior backstage and that NBA commissioner Adam Silver might have cut a deal to reduce penalties if the disgraced Donald had agreed to sell the Los Angeles Clippers.

The trial, which could clear the way for Shelly, Donald’s wife of 58 years, to complete a sale of the Clippers to billionaire former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, won’t resume until July 21 because of attorney and judge scheduling issues. Judge Michael Levanas set closing arguments for July 28, and it is unknown how long Levanas will take to make a ruling.

The $2 billion sales agreement between Shelly and Ballmer has a Tuesday deadline, but also a provision to extend it to Aug. 15.

“I think the judge is doing everything he can to make sure we are going to get a decision before the Aug. 15 extension date,” said Adam Streisand, Ballmer’s lawyer. “I’m confident we’re going to get this team sold within that time frame. I’m very excited about how it’s going.”

Shelly, called “a pig” by Donald at the end of Wednesday’s testimony, showed up Thursday in good spirits, escorted by a bailiff. She joked with a couple of reporters outside the courtroom about not being allowed to answer any questions in the hallway.

Inside, she smiled and exchanged pleasantries with some of the lawyers.

Donald was not at court. His side of the case will begin July 21.

Shelly, who testified Wednesday that she had become increasingly concerned about Donald’s mental competence, said Thursday that Walters, the venerable celebrity TV interviewer, had planned to do a sit-down interview with the Sterlings together in New York in May -- after Silver had banned Donald for life from the NBA because of his racist remarks that were recorded and leaked to TMZ.

But Walters asked Shelly to appear alone — and she did — after Donald got into an argument with someone backstage.

“She (Walters) said she thought he was in the early stages of dementia,” Shelly testified.

Two days later, Donald did a TV interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper that turned out be a disaster for him and confirmed in Shelly’s mind that her husband was not well.

Shelly also testified that Silver talked about rescinding the lifetime ban on Donald — and instituting a one-year suspension and two-year probation — if she could get Donald to agree in writing to sell the club.

But Donald, who at one point wrote a letter authorizing Shelly to negotiate a sale, never agreed to sign. Instead, he said publicly he would never sell, railed against Silver and said he had hired investigators to probe into the lives of other NBA owners.

Silver responded that the fine and ban would never be lifted.

“Why would they (the NBA) make any agreement with him when he goes from selling to not selling?” Shelly testified. “Adam can’t put out a statement agreeing to back off on something when Donald is saying he’s going to sue all the owners, find dirt on them and never sell the team.”

Needing Donald’s consent or a court order establishing her authority to unilaterally sell the Clippers, Shelly acted to remove Donald as a co-trustee of the Sterling Family Trust, on the basis of mental incapacity.

And then she signed the sales agreement with Ballmer.

“I thought I got the very, very best price a sports team had ever sold for,” she said. “And the best person,” she added, referring to Ballmer. It was good for the team, the player and the sponsors. And it was good for the city.”

It would also be good, she testified for the Sterling Family Trust, which, she testified, owes more than $500 million in loans to various banks. She said the loans were called after Donald revoked the trust June 9. She said the trust would have to sell property or come up with the money to pay off the loans.

O’Donnell asked what she would do with the $2 billion. “I will pay off the loans,” she said.

Levanas told the attorneys to focus on three issues going forward:

■ Did Shelly properly comply with the terms of the trust in having Donald removed as a co-trustee, or was Donald defrauded by Shelly and/or two doctors who examined him and found him to be mentally incapacitated?

■ After Donald Sterling exercised his right to revoke the trust agreement June 9, did Shelly have the legal right to go ahead with the sale of the Clippers?

■ If the first two issues go in Shelly’s favor, does the judge have the right to make an order that is basically unappealable? That is, can he order the sale to go through despite any legal appeals that Donald might file?